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The heart of the people

Jan. 15, 2015

Mission, environmental protection,
the poor, violence in the name of God, friendship among religions, freedom of
expression, peace. These were the main topics addressed by the Pope, who
responded to journalists during a press conference on the long flight from
Colombo to Manila, where evening had already fallen when he arrived. An
enormous and exuberant crowd of perhaps over a million people were there to
welcome him. In the extended conversation which lasted nearly an hour, the chief
concern — proclaiming and testifying to the Gospel — that has always
characterized Bergoglio was immediately evident.

In this sense, the prologue with
which Francis introduced the meeting was indeed most meaningful. He spoke about
the canonizations of Joseph Vaz in Colombo and of many other great
missionaries, thereby offering a key to understanding his pontificate. He spoke
of proclamations by way of the so-called equipollent path — the one traditionally used by Pontiffs to
recognize the sainthood, without the certification of a miracle, of someone
long venerated as such by the faithful.

Vaz was preceded by Pierre Faber,
François de Laval, Marie of the Incarnation, José de Anchieta, and will be
followed, the Pope announced, by Junípero Serra. Bergoglio thus proposes a sort
of geography of missionary sainthood which, in the first centuries of the
modern age, ideally reaches various parts of the world: from Europe to Canada,
from Brazil to ancient Ceylon, and to the west coast of North America.

To the first question on the
environment, the theme of the next encyclical, the Pope responded with an
irrefutable affirmation: man has gone too far in his exploitation of natural
resources and in his reckless consumption. In the current context, it will not
be easy to reach truly effective international decisions, but Francis trusts
that his document will be able to contribute to the discussion in view of the
upcoming meeting in Paris, after the disappointment of that in Lima.

Next to the necessity of
preserving nature, which the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew has long studied
and reflected on, the poor are at the centre of the Pontiff’s concerns in this
his fourth journey to Asia in less than a year, after those to the Holy Land,
Korea and Turkey. This itinerary of friendship is unfolding while, on the
contrary, fundamentalist violence seem to be intensifying in the world: from
using children in suicide attacks, to the question of respect for religions
posed by the tragic events in Paris.

Thus, various questions were
related to these dramatic topics. Francis answered noting the extraordinary
experience at the Marian Shrine of Madhu, where he was welcomed by not only
Catholics, and where, without distinction of religion, all pray before the
image of the Virgin and receive grace. In this too, the people are not
mistaken, while fundamentalism and violence are disseminated by minorities. To
kill in the name of God is an aberration, but it is unacceptable to make a
mockery of religion. We must go forward, in order to build harmony from peace,
and in this way reach the heart of the people, as the Pope confided to the
President of Sri Lanka.